Seating is necessarily related to posture in the construction of chairs and lounges for the support of the human body. Involved is the head, torso and limbs of the body; the spinal column being subject to curvatures imposed by the contours of the seat cushion and back cushion. Generally, it is conventional to provide seating in the form of a chair having a horizontally disposed seat cushion with a vertically disposed back cushion extended upwardly therefrom. The cushion effect is provided for comfort, and the depth of cushioning and disposition to horizontal and/or vertical is normally established according to generalized requirements, but not necessarily suited to each individual. Further, the supporting surfaces of the cushions have been contoured, and all to the end of providing comfort for the body. However, the ordinary seating structure is inflexible with respect to selective adjustment to an individuals posture requirements, and therefore a most common human ailment is back and/or spinal column problems arising out of poor seating posture. Since the posture of sitting is required of many persons, over long periods of time, it is an object of this invention to provide seating that is selectively adjustable to optimum requirements. With the present invention, an individual person can adjust a chair to suit his desires, her desires, according to exacting curvatures prescribed according to spinal column posture requirements.
The contouring of chairs seats and backs is ordinarily a function of cushion depth and padding as it is installed upon a frame, and the frame is not determinative of the supporting contours. Firmness of the cushioning is also a controlling factor; and all of which are ordinarily fixed into the chair structure with articulated sections that adjust for general angular relationships to the various body parts of the person seated thereon. However it is these various sectional areas of body support which require contouring as prescribed according to spinal column requirements of a particular individual, and to this end it is an object of this invention to provide coextensive cushion contouring for both the seat and the back of a chair or the like. With the present invention, juxtapositioned rungs are selectively displaced from supporting rails at specified distances according to the prescription of the contour required.
The adjustability of chair rungs is a novel concept for the purpose and/or function of cushion adjustment, and it is an object of this invention to provide a simple and practical reception of rungs in fixed position on spaced rails, with displaced adjustability determined by the mounting configuration between the rungs and rails. In practice, the rungs are sustantially rigid members mounted to the rails by non-rotatable trunnions, there being a plurality of rung configurations and each adapted to multi-positioning for their selective displacement and consequent contouring as prescribed.
The aforementioned concept is practical in every respect and is adaptable to varied chair or seating designs. Objectively, it is of primary purpose to provide a selectively contoured backing for a seat or back cushion, and all of which is to be combined in a chair frame or the like for the partial or total support of the human body incluing the head, torso and limbs, as the case may be.